". . . resolved to take fate by the throat and shake a living out of her." - LOUISA MAY ALCOTT, quoted by Ednah D. Cheney in Louisa May Alcott, Her Life, Letters, and Journals

"Let's meet, and either do or die." - JOHN FLETCHER, The Island Princess

"Liberty's in every blow!
Let us do or die!
I have not yet begun to fight."
- JOHN PAUL JONES, reply to a demand by the British that he surrender when his ship, the Bonhomme Rich

"He who breaks a resolution is a weakling;
He who makes one is a fool."
- F.M. KNOWLES, A Cheerful Year Book

"Let us, then, be up and doing,
With a heart for any fate;
Still achieving, still pursuing,
Learn to labor and to wait."
- HENRY WADSWORTH LONGFELLOW, A Psalm of Life

"What though the field be lost?
All is not lost; the unconquerable Will,
And study of revenge, immortal hate,
And courage never to submit or yield:
And what else is not to be overcome?"
- JOHN MILTON, Paradise Lost